The so-called Northeastern Design Caboose was one of the first mass-produced all-steel construction cabooses. Originally designed by the Reading Company in the early 1920s, it was based in a proposed USRA design car, although the USRA design called for wood sheathing. The Reading built 285 cars, spread through several classes. The earliest cars had solid underframes, but later cars were equipped with Duryea cushion underframes.
The Reading had such success with these cars that quickly other roads in the Northeast bought copies as well, including the Central Railroad of New Jersey, Lehigh & New England, Lehigh Valley, Pittsburgh & West Virginia and the Western Maryland. The Reading built some of these cars while others were built in the various railroad’s shops. With production spread out between so many locations and roads, variations were bound to be made to the original design. Different groups of cars were equipped with different trucks, running boards, steps, grabs and end wall windows (or lack thereof).
The cars soldiered on into Conrail and Chessie and saw service right up until the end of caboose operations on those roads. Many were sold second-hand to other railroads - Class 1 and shortlines alike. Because of their long life span and late service, many of these cabooses have gone on to be preserved either in museums, personal collections or even as part of hotels!
Rapido’s all-new HO scale model has been developed from original blueprints, photos and field measurements. We have included several variations and addition details to accurately model these cabooses from the beginning to the end of their service lives. These include:
- Three styles of truck: Andrews, Birdsboro and Taylor
- Two different cupola roofs
- Two-tread or three-tread steps
- Two different sides – standard and Lehigh Valley with rain gutters above the windows.
- Three different ends walls – Solid (RDG, CNJ), single window (LV) and double window (WM)
- Two running boards: Integral diamond-tread and Alan Wood Superior
- Multiple optional parts including stacks, window blanks, etched window frames and screens, tool boxes and more!
- Full underbody detail
- Turned metal wheels
- Operating interior lights
- Factory-equipped Rapido metal knuckle couplers
